20th Century Women (Blu-ray Review)
20th Century Women comes from writer/director Mike Mills of whom I only familiar with his film Thumbsucker, which was one of the first films that was highly recommended to me by Scott Mendelson early on in our friendship. It was a terrific coming of age comedy, the best of what seemed to have a lot of similar ones like it back in 2005, and one of the best films that year. This film, featuring a single mother tasking two younger women with helping to shape her 15 year old son’s adolescence, is my first venture with Mills since. I highly enjoyed the trailer when I saw it back during December (Actually had me cracking up aloud at a few moments), but wasn’t able to get to it during its theatrical run. It looked like another big awards run movie for Annette Bening, but the film wound up only getting nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The film very much offers far more than its lack of award season nods would lead you to believe. 20th Century Women will be available to purchase on (21st century, yok yok) Blu-ray March 28th. Continue reading ’20th Century Women (Blu-ray Review)’
It sounds very silly to have expectations for or to be really looking forward to a film like Arsenal. A primarily straight to Blu-ray and DVD (I think it played a couple festivals) release where the leads are Adrien Grenier and Johnathon Schaech. And John Cusack, has been less of the kicker than ever in the past couple of years, looking unhappy stuck in some sort of slow rent action movie straight to video hell. The kicker here was someone also kind of stuck there, but who always commits; Nicolas Cage. This trailer actually brought the internet abuzz as he looked to be going full on Cage for this one and was resurreting his Deadfall past with “Eddie”. Maybe Cusack would find it in himself to bring it too. This looked like it could be bringing the right amount of crazy and silly to an otherwise tired looking story. Therein lies the potential I (And I was not alone) was seeing in this movie. Everything seemed like it was on the table, but would it actually pan out. 
In terms of his directorial output, Ben Affleck has had a perfect track record with me. Gone Baby Gone was one hell of a debut for him and surprisingly his least talked about film in his director catalog (It shouldn’t be, its fantastic). That film was based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, which is a well Affleck is seemingly returning to by adapting another one of his books into Live By Night. For critical reception, its been a rough year for Ben Affleck, with Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice being thrashed (Though he was almost praised across the board for it) and The Accountant getting a mediocre reception (Though being a rock solid hit). It seemed like, well, at least he has his own film to end the year on. A Ben Affleck film was something we thought we could count on. Though, disappointingly, he’d end the year on a huge double whammy, with more awful reviews and a having his film totally bomb at the box office. This, being the film that followed up his widely praised and Academy Award winner for best picture, Argo. 
In 2016, director Peter Berg and star Mark Wahlberg teamed for a pair of action-oriented films base on real life big headline stories trying to display American heroism. The first was Deepwater Horizon, focusing on the 2010 oil spill and the other was Patriots Day that was about the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon and hunt for the terrorists behind it. Patriots Day came out in a limited fashion in 2016 and was spread more wide in early January. Maybe it was too early for this one or just too much else to see, but despite good reviews, the film failed to connect with audiences and underperformed. Its now maybe hoping to find audience at home with its 4K UHD Blu-ray release, coming on March 21st. You can check it out early via streaming and digital, but physical is always the preferred method of delivery and you can ensure yourself a copy on release day by pre-ordering from the Amazon link provided below. 
Passengers is a film that I have a lot of history with personally speaking. The original script for Passengers was written by Jon Spaihts way back in 2007, and had been in development hell for years now. I mention this because not only have my own projects been in development hell, but this very script was my first read in a screenwriting class I took at Cleveland State University way back when. I remember this time period too because at one point the film was set to star Keanu Reeves and Emily Blunt. God this movie would have been fantastic with Emily as the leading female. Eventually in 2014 it it was announced that Sony had won the auction for the rights to the sci-fi flick and here we are. It’s 2017 and Passengers came out theatrically last year, but more importantly it’s finally here in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray! 
Twenty years ago this September launched a little horror series called Wishmaster. Back when a horror movie could do over fifteen million at the box office and be considered a success, that’s what this was. While coming post-Scream, it was before the effects and wave had taken over (That would come a month later with I Know What You Did Last Summer). In a way, it made the monster one the last one of an era before the Scream-like slashers would take over in iconography before the remakes and Jigsaw carried on from there. Wishmaster did spawn three sequels in a 5 years run from 1997-2002, but none of them ever found major theatrical release (Straight to video in the US). The series and character of the Wishmaster has lied dormant ever since, yet to make a return, but who knows, maybe this set will spark an interest or drum up nostalgia or a new fanbase for the little underground cult series. 
Well
Scream Factory first dipped their toes into the world of Stephen King last fall with its definitive release of the initial classic (And one of horror’s all-time best) Carrie. Now, they are at it again with another of his telekinetic girls with the Drew Barrymore-led Firestarter. Yes, its already on Blu-ray, but that lackluster release is getting a masterful update with Scream Factory’s Collector’s edition. Not only does this boast a lot of brand next extras for this disc, but its been given a brand new 2K transfer as well. As per usual, this thing will be well worth the upgrade, or the holdout you’ve had for the movie (Even just the curious bystander that picks up based on Scream Factory’s choice to release). But, lets dig into this anyway, shall we? The release is set for March 14th, but you can make sure you have one come release day by pre-ordering on the Amazon link below. 
Paramount is continuing on with its re-releasing of all the Star Trek iterations in new packaging and whatnot. Last year saw the full original crew release in celebration of 50 years that included the full series run, the animated series (A debut on Blu-ray) and the films featuring that crew. A few months later we got new packages of the original series, The Next Generation and the standalone release of the Animated Series. Just last month saw Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine repurposed in new full season sets. I think these these recent ones were set to coordinate with Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere, but that got pushed back. The last such of those releases is the full season Series of Star Trek: Voyager on DVD. And that’s the one we are here to cover today. Up front, these are the exact same discs that have been out the whole way, its just different, “shelf space saving” packaging this time around. But, lets dig in and check it out anyway. I’ve included pictures of the new packaging in this review, as well as listed the bonus material (Easter Eggs included) so you can confirm you already have this. 
Moana is finally here on Blu-ray! “How far will you go” to get yourself a copy? Target? Best Buy? Fry’s? Amazon? Deep Discount? Or was the walk too long and you just settled to buy the digital one and call it a day? Hopefully not, especially if you’re a reader on a site that’s called Why So Blu. But, its a weird world that doesn’t seem to make sense anymore, so I kind of understand that. Yes, this might be the weirdest intro paragraph to a Moana review there is. The box office and global sensation IS indeed coming to home video and its got plenty of bonus features to boot. This movie was gonna make “ze monies” no matter what, but its kinda funny that you can add that “The Rock” bump to it if you so want to please. You can order yourself a copy of the newest Dwayne Johnson epic by clicking the Amazon link below (I also appreciate that when you do!). 
It’s a place where your worst fears can come to life. A place where it’s hard to tell nightmares from reality. A place where you will discover Tales from the Hood. Lauded for its take on complex social issues like police brutality and domestic abuse, this cult horror anthology from director Rusty Cundieff and executive producer Spike Lee makes its Blu-ray debut April 18th, 2017 as a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory. Tales from the Hood comes loaded with bonus features, including the new documentary Welcome to Hell: The Making of Tales from the Hood, which features new interviews with director/writer Rusty Cundieff, producer/writer Darin Scott, actors Corbin Bernsen Wings Hauser and Anthony Griffith, special effects supervisor Kenneth Hall, doll effects supervisors Charles Chiodo and Edward Chiodo; audio commentary with director/writer Rusty Cundieff, a making of Tales from the Hood featurette, original theatrical and TV spots, and more! Fans can preorder their copies now from ShoutFactory.com. 
Writer and Director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Visit) delivers his most gripping film yet with SPLIT, an original psychological thriller available on Digital HD on April 4, 2017 and on Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand on April 18, 2017, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Jason Blum (Insidious, Ouija, The Visit, The Purge series) returns to collaborate with Shyamalan in the box-office hit, starring James McAvoy (X-Men: Apocalypse, Victor Frankenstein). The frightening thriller SPLIT delves into the mysterious depths of one man’s fractured mind as a terror unlike the world has seen prepares to be unleashed. SPLIT offers viewers a closer look at the movie fans are raving about with a never-before-seen alternate ending, deleted scenes, character spotlight, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film. 
Red Dawn is one of those quintessential 1980s “super 80s” films that has lived on with nostalgia goggles long since it dropped in on us back in 1984. It features an 
Like Dr. Sam Beckett used to do through time, Scream Factory (Shout! Factory, in general) is on a mission to put right what once wrong. Giving to us the versions of films we like that celebrate the fan and collector, while the studio original just put out a minimal effort. And now its time to give some love to the RoboCop sequels. I’m pretty sure nobody prefers either over the original, but the second film has its fans (I’m sorta one) at least. Despite their quality, these misses always make for a great retrospective documentary, making the film worth owning or taking another look at. On March 14th, RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3 will get some beefy Collector’s Edition releases from Scream Factory. In this review, we’ll look at RoboCop 3. 
Like Dr. Sam Beckett used to do through time, Scream Factory (Shout! Factory, in general) is on a mission to put right what once wrong. Giving to us the versions of films we like that celebrate the fan and collector, while the studio original just put out a minimal effort. And now its time to give some love to the RoboCop sequels. I’m pretty sure nobody prefers either over the original, but the second film has its fans (I’m sorta one) at least. Despite their quality, these misses always make for a great retrospective documentary, making the film worth owning or taking another look at. On March 14th, RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3 will get some beefy Collector’s Edition releases from Scream Factory. In this review, we’ll look at RoboCop 2. 
